Long commutes to work costing country £260m

Published on Sunday 8 November 2009 21:40

MORE than £260 million worth of working time is spent every day travelling to and from work, new research showed today.

A study by the TUC found that workers spent an average of almost an hour commuting every day last year. The average is down by only 1.4 minutes compared with 2007 despite rising unemployment due to the recession.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "UK staff experience a double whammy of working some of the longest hours in Europe and spending nearly an hour every day getting to and from work. All that wasted working time spent on crowded trains and congested roads costs the economy over 250 million every year, not to mention the stress it causes."

Phil Flaxton of campaign group Work Wise, added: "Commuting for long periods has become a part of the UK's working culture. The excessive time spent commuting increases stress."